Breathable polyvinyl alcohol reinforced sodium alginate hydrogel fiber knitted fabric containing curcumin as wound dressing for real-time pH monitoring

Due to the shortcomings of traditional medical dressings, the development of new dressings has become a hot topic. However, the mechanical properties of hydrogel fibers are relatively poor, so they are rarely spun and knitted, and tend to be in the state of sheet gels or laminated with fabrics as dressings. In this study, a novel fiber-type medical dressing with excellent biocompatibility, pH-monitoring function, drug slow-release effect, and fluid-absorbing ability was created using sodium alginate (SA), polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), and curcumin (CUR) based on wet spinning technology and weft-knitting technique. The X-ray diffraction and the tensile tests demonstrated that PVA could enhance the crystallinity and the tensile properties of the fiber, facilitating the formation of fabrics. In addition, CUR gave the dressing the ability to monitor wound pH in real-time. Moreover, the tests indicated that the SA/PVA/CUR hydrogel fiber fabrics studied in this paper have good swelling properties, drug retardation function, air permeability, moisture permeability, and bio-tissue compatibility, thus demonstrating the potential of this SA/PVA/CUR hydrogel fiber fabrics as medical dressings.